1
artículo
Original abstract: The Rio Santa valley in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru, has been repeatedly affected by severe glacial flood disasters in the past decades. The continuing high rate of glacier retreat has led to the formation and rapid growth of a large number of glacial lakes. Due to the risk of lake outburst floods, downstream communities are confronted with serious hazards. The regional capital of Huaraz is one of the major sites exposed to these hazards. Mainly due to a lack of resources, no systematic evaluation of the existing hazards and related risks has been performed so far, nor have adequate warning systems been installed. Strict financial limitations make a prioritization of mitigation measures a necessity. Vulnerability assessments are an effective tool to this end. In this article, we present a method to measure the vulnerability of Huaraz to hazards from glacial lake outbur...
2
artículo
Publicado 2018
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Frente a una creciente magnitud de impactos del cambio climático, la adaptación se ha convertido en la prioridad política a nivel internacional. La dirección y atribución de medidas de adaptación implican un complejo proceso de análisis de características e impactos en los sistemas hidroclimáticos y socioambientales en regiones de alta montaña. En los Andes Tropicales, cambios en el régimen hídrico —y los consiguientes impactos en los glaciares y en el desarrollo socioeconómico local— requieren mecanismos robustos de respuesta, basados en el análisis integral de realidades y paisajes multidimensionales.En este contexto, los Proyectos Multipropósito en Recursos Hídricos (PMP-RRHH) representan estrategias prometedoras a fin de abordar actuales y futuros desafíos en regiones de alta montaña, desde un enfoque participativo y transdisciplinario. El presente artí...
3
artículo
Publicado 2014
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Filiación institucional de autor: Alejo Cochachín Rapre /Autoridad Nacional del Agua - Unidad de Glaciología y Recursos Hídricos (ANA-UGRH), Huaraz, Peru
4
ponencia
Publicado 2013
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The Urubamba and Vilcabamba mountain ranges are two geological structures belonging to the Andes in the southern part of Peru, which is located in the tropical region. These mountain ranges are especially located within the transition area between the Amazon region (altitudes close to 1’000 m a.s.l.) and the Andes. These mountains, with a maximum height of 6’280 m a.s.l. (Salkantay Snow Peak in the Vilcabamba range), are characterized by glaciers mainly higher than 5000 m a.s.l. Here we present a study on the evolution of the ice cover based on “Landsat 5” images from 1991 and 2011 is presented in this paper. These data are freely available from the USGS in a georeferenced format and cover a time span of more than 25 years.
5
artículo
Publicado 2011
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El presente artículo está orientado al análisis comparativo de diferentes modelos hidrológicos en la cuenca del río Chillón. Esta cuenca, ubicada aproximadamente a 130 kilómetros al sur de la ciudad de Lima, fue seleccionada para evaluar la capacidad de simulación de los modelos Génie Rural à 4 paramètres Journalier (GR4J), Soil Contribution (SOCONT), Hydrologiska Byrans Vattenbalansavdelning (HBV) y Sacramento Soil Moisture Accounting (SAC); considerando un enfoque de modelización conceptual semidistribuida. Se utilizó para ello el programa de modelización hidrológica e hidráulica RS MINERVE. Para los análisis comparativos de los modelos (GR4J, SOCONT, HBV y SAC) se delimitó un área de aproximadamente 1253 km2 de la cuenca del rio Chillón, denominado Cuenca Magdalena. Esta área se dividió en 25 subcuencas y 122 unidades hidrológicas aportantes llamadas “bandas a...
6
ponencia
Publicado 2013
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The Cordillera Vilcanota in the Southern Peruvian Andes is the second largest ice-covered Cordillera in Peru (after the Cordillera Blanca) and serves for the Cusco Region as a temporary water storage for fresh-water and hydropower generation and irrigation. Despite the Cordillera Vilcanota’s size and socio-economic relevance, there has so far no comprehensive baseline data been available for climate and glacier evolution. In the framework of two jointly launched –Peruvian-Swiss climate change impact and adaptation programs (Climate Change Adaptation Programm - PACC; Glacier Change Adaptation and Desaster Risk Reduction Programm - Glacier 513) significant efforts have been undertaken and are on the way to create a climate, glacier and hazard baseline for the Cordillera Vilcanota. Because of the remoteness of the area and the scarcity of available data, multiple sources such as climate...
7
ponencia
Publicado 2015
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The Peruvian Andes host about 71% of all tropical glaciers. Although several studies have focused on glaciers of the largest glaciered mountain range (Cordillera Blanca), other regions have received little attention to date. In 2011, a new program has been initiated with the aim of monitoring glaciers in the centre and south of Peru. The monitoring program is managed by the Servicio Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología del Perú (SENAMHI) and it is a joint project together with the Universidad San Antonio Abad de Cusco (UNSAAC) and the Autoridad Nacional del Agua (ANA). In Southern Peru, the Quisoquipina glacier has been selected due to its representativeness for glaciers in the Cordillera Vilcanota considering area, length and orientation. The Cordillera Vilcanota is the second largest mountain range in Peru with a glaciated area of approximately 279 km2 in 2009. Melt water from glac...
8
ponencia
Publicado 2015
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Field and modelling based research indicates that for tropical glaciers, variations in snow cover and the altitude of the snow line via albedo effects are among the most crucial factors to explain the differences in annual glacier mass balance variability. It is therefore essential to identify the height of the phase change during precipitation events and its coupling with glacier mass balance. This knowledge is also fundamental to assess possible future impacts of e.g. changing air temperatures on glacier mass balances at low latitudes. However, the knowledge on heights of phase changes and air temperature during precipitation events is severely limited by the small number of meteorological measurements at high altitudes in the tropics and the Himalaya. Additionally, their one-dimensional type of observation that cannot appropriately account for the variations along the vertical dimensi...
9
artículo
Publicado 2013
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Original abstract: The role of glaciers as temporal water reservoirs is particularly pronounced in the (outer) tropics because of the very distinct wet/dry seasons. Rapid glacier retreat caused by climatic changes is thus a major concern, and decision makers demand urgently for regional/local glacier evolution trends, ice mass estimates and runoff assessments. However, in remote mountain areas, spatial and temporal data coverage is typically very scarce and this is further complicated by a high spatial and temporal variability in regions with complex topography. Here, we present an approach on how to deal with these constraints. For the Cordillera Vilcanota (southern Peruvian Andes), which is the second largest glacierized cordillera in Peru (after the Cordillera Blanca) and also comprises the Quelccaya Ice Cap, we assimilate a comprehensive multi-decadal collection of available glacier ...
10
artículo
Publicado 2018
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Filiación institucional de autor: Alejo Cochachín Rapre / Autoridad Nacional del Agua - Unidad de Glaciología y Recursos Hídricos (ANA-UGRH), Huaraz, Peru
11
artículo
Publicado 2018
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Filiación institucional de autor: Alejo Cochachín Rapre / Autoridad Nacional del Agua - Unidad de Glaciología y Recursos Hídricos (ANA-UGRH), Huaraz, Peru
12
ponencia
Publicado 2014
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Glaciers have been an important element of Andean societies and livelihoods as direct freshwater supply for agriculture irrigation, hydropower generation and mining activities. Peru’s mainly remotely living population in the Central Andes has to cope with a strong seasonal variation of precipitations and river runoff interannually superimposed by El Niño impacts. Direct glacier and lake water discharge thus constitute a vital continuous water supply and represent a regulating buffer as far as hydrological variability is concerned. This crucial buffer effect is gradually altered by accelerated glacier retreat which leads most likely to an increase of annual river runoff variability. Furthermore, a near-future crossing of the ‘peak water’ is expected, from where on prior enhanced streamflow decreases and levels out towards a new still unknown minimum discharge. Consequently, a susta...
13
ponencia
The Andes of Peru are among the regions most severely affected by glacier and high-mountain hazards over the past 100 years. Large-scale disasters with thousands of people killed are on record, including ice/rock avalanches, debris flows, and glacier lake outburst floods (GLOF's). Effects of climate change such as glacier retreat and formation of glacier lakes have been one of the drivers of hazards in the past. Now, there is an increasing concern about the destabilizing effect that recent and further warming has a on perennially frozen bedrock and on steep glaciers in the steep flanks of high-mountain peaks, with potentially severe consequences to ice/rock avalanches, which may impact existing and new lakes, producing far-reaching outburst floods. Risks are also changing due to the socio-economic development in the Andean region and need to be considered using integrative approaches.
14
objeto de conferencia
Publicado 2017
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In many regions of Peru, the competition for limited hydrological resources already represents a large risk for conflicts. In this context, and within the circumstances of climate change, there is a great interest in estimating the future loss of Peruvian glaciers. Solid precipitation on glaciers, which affects the shortwave radiation budget via its effects on albedo, in general reduces ablation. For that reason, the height of the upper level of the transition zone between liquid and solid precipitation (snowfall level height) is considered to play a critical role. This snowfall level height is linked to air temperature. The observed and projected warming of the atmosphere is therefore affecting the glaciers amongst others by changing the snowfall level height. Despite the potential significance of these changes for Peruvian glaciers, the relations between snowfall level heights, glacier...
15
ponencia
Publicado 2016
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In Peru, about 50% of the energy is produced from hydropower plants. An important amount of this energy is produced with water from glaciated catchments. In these catchments river streamflow is furthermore needed for other socio-economic activities such as agriculture. However, the amount and seasonality of water from glacial melt is expected to undergo strong changes. As glaciers are projected to further decline with continued warming, runoff will become more and more sensitive to possible changes in precipitation patterns. Moreover, as stated by a recent study (Neukom et al., 2015), wet season precipitation sums in the Central Andes could decrease up to 19-33 % by the end of the 21st century compared to present-day conditions. Here, we investigate future runoff availability for selected glacierized catchments in the Peruvian Andes. In a first step, we apply a simplified energy balance ...
16
artículo
Publicado 2015
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Filiación institucional de autor: Alejo Cochachín Rapre /Autoridad Nacional del Agua - Unidad de Glaciología y Recursos Hídricos (ANA-UGRH), Huaraz, Peru
17
artículo
Publicado 2013
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Original abstract: The aim of this paper is to provide the community with a comprehensive overview of the studies of glaciers in the tropical Andes conducted in recent decades leading to the current status of the glaciers in the context of climate change. In terms of changes in surface area and length, we show that the glacier retreat in the tropical Andes over the last three decades is unprecedented since the maximum extension of the Little Ice Age (LIA, mid-17th–early 18th century). In terms of changes in mass balance, although there have been some sporadic gains on several glaciers, we show that the trend has been quite negative over the past 50 yr, with a mean mass balance deficit for glaciers in the tropical Andes that is slightly more negative than the one computed on a global scale. A break point in the trend appeared in the late 1970s with mean annual mass balance per year decr...
